THE SPOTTED OR CANADA GROUSE. 87 



The flesh of this Grouse is dark, and fit for being eaten only when it has 

 fed on berries. In winter, when it feeds on the leaves of trees and other 

 plants, the flesh is quite bitter and disagreeable. 



According to Dr. Richardson, all the thick and swampy black-spruce 

 forests between Canada and the Arctic Sea abound with this bird, and 

 considerable numbers exist in the severest seasons as high as the 67th 

 parallel. I am informed by Mr. Townsend that it is also plentiful on the 

 Rocky Mountains and the plains of the Columbia, from which parts I have 

 obtained specimens differing in nothing from others procured in Maine and 

 Labrador. I have also compared those in the Edinburgh Museum, which 

 Mr. Douglass was pleased to name Tetrao Franklinii, with several of my 

 own, and feel perfectly confident that they are all of one and the same 

 species. 



Spotted Grouse, Tetrao Canadensis, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. iiL pi. 20. 

 Tetrao Canadensis, Bonap. Syn. p. 127. 



Tetrao Canadensis, Sj^otted Grouse, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 346. 

 Tetrao Franklinii, Franklin's Grouse, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 348. 

 Spotted Grouse, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 667. 



Spotted or Canada Grouse, Tetrao Canadensis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 437; vol. 

 v. p. 563. 



Male, 15§, 2 If. Female, 15 J, 21. 



Plentiful from the northern parts of New York to Labrador, as well as 

 from Canada to the Arctic Sea. Columbia river. Partially migratory in 

 w T inter. 



Adult Male. 



Bill short, robust, slightly arched, rather obtuse, the base covered by 

 feathers; upper mandible with the dorsal outline convex towards the end, 

 the edges sharp and overlapping, the tip declinate; lower mandible slightly 

 convex, in its dorsal outline, the back broad and rounded, the sides sloping 

 outwards, the tip rather rounded. Nostrils basal, lateral, concealed by the 

 short feathers. Head small, neck of ordinary length, body full. Feet short, 

 rather small; tarsus short, roundish, feathered; toes scutellate above, broadly 

 margined and pectinate, the anterior ones connected by a web at the base, 

 the hind toe very small, the two lateral about equal, the middle one much 

 longer; claws short, arched, compressed, rather obtuse. 



Plumage compact, slightly glossed. Feathers of the head very short. 

 Wings short, broad, much rounded and curved, the third quill longest, the 

 fourth next, the second and fifth nearly equal, the first very short. Tail 

 ample, of ordinary length, rounded, of sixteen broad rotundato-truncate 

 feathers, having a minute mucro. 



